5 Baby Products You Really Don’t Need

When it comes to babies, parents are bombarded with products that claim to be a must have of any new parent. Truth is, it’s all a load of trash.

As a minimalist mom, I have gone through crazy amounts of research to figure out what baby products are actually true must haves. When I was pregnant with my first, just like any new parent I was convinced that I was going to need all the latest baby gear. –that is until I actually had my baby and realized when the hell am I actually going to use this?

So here are my top 5 baby products that I ended up not needing.

Diaper Genie – These things are super cool in theory. It’s basically a glorified shit trashcan. They come with special bags that are supposed to trap the odor inside. When my son was a newborn, this product was actually kinda nice, his diapers were small and not too smelly so we could cram that thing full. After we introduced him to real foods and his poops started smelling like real kid poop, this glorified trashcan was a complete waste. No matter how may times we cleaned it and replaced the filter and the baggies, it stunk. The baggies filled up quickly and they get expensive to replace. Also, my son quickly figured out how to open it up and snag the nasty diapers inside of it and throw them around. Nope! It became easier to just simply take the dirty diapers straight out to the garbage outside.

Changing Table – I know what you’re thinking “Really Crystal, are you sure??” Yes, I’m sure. When you have a kid running around with a dirty diaper you’re going to end up with 5 different designated places to change your kiddos diaper. Best thing to do is get a couple cheap baskets and throw some changing essentials (diapers, wipes, butt cream) and place them in a few spots around the house so you can just grab one quick and change that diaper good as new! If you really feel the need to have a central baby diaper change station, you can always put a changing pad on top of your child’s dresser. There is no need to buy a whole extra piece of furniture.

Fancy baby carriers – You know, like the ones that have all the straps and clips and whatnot. unless you’re avid hikers, you probably wont use this product more than a few times. For the price that they cost, they are not worth it. I found much better use out of a fabric baby wrap that I got on amazon for less than 20$ and it was way more comfortable too.

Baby Bath Chairs – These are another one of those “must haves” that you will most likely use only once. Maybe I just got lucky, but my babies were never stinky. Little babies really don’t get dirty enough to need baths and if they do get a little smelly or if they have an explosion accident, all you wanna do is clean them off as fast as you can. It’s not really good to give them a bath longer than a quick couple of minutes because it can dry out their skin. ( as much as that sounds like an oxymoron) Also, if you’re anything like me, I enjoyed having some quality skin to skin time in the tub with my babies, so I just rested them on my chest while I bathed them. But by the time they are old enough to get legitimately dirty, they are usually sitting up on their own, rendering the baby bath chair useless.

Special diaper bags – Seriously, a simple tote bag will do just fine. I hate carrying around a million different things. I don’t even like carrying around a purse. That’s why I don’t really understand why people choose to get large bulky diaper bags. I could understand if you were going on a long trip and needed to pack a lot of things for your baby but if it’s just for errands or even a day out, no need to plan for the apocalypse. Also, have you looked at the prices of these things?? Good lord, why???

Obviously, I don’t speak for everyone and this is just my personal experiences. If you absolutely have to have the entire matching nursery furniture set (I know I did!) then have at it. But you’ll soon find that as you become more experienced with your parenting, you’ll eventually figure out what kinds of things are beneficial to you and your baby.

Luckily, most of the baby items that I received I got for free from my baby shower, so I wasn’t at too much of a loss when I found out that I had no use for them. Even if you have a baby registry usually only a few people actually bother to look at it. However, still be polite and thank your guests for any gifts that they gave you.

If you find yourself receiving a lot of the useless gifts, there are things that you can do. The best thing that I did was not open any of the packaged items I received. You’d also be crazy surprised how many duplicate items you receive at baby showers, and let me tell you I had about 8 or 9 bottles of baby shampoo. When your baby is born without hair… I can assure you that you will not be using any of that shampoo for a while.

I ended up returning tons of stuff and exchanging it for other items that were more useful. Even if you don’t have return receipts most places will give you an in store credit. Also, if you’re not sure where the item came from, guess. Your best bet is to try Babies R Us, Walmart, and Target. All you have to do it go up to customer service and tell them you received the item as a gift and you’re unsure if the item came from their store. They will scan the item and let you know if it came from their store. Sometimes it’s helpful to enter the barcode number or description into Google and look at the shopping results. Sometimes you can be directed to a store that way as well. After all said and done, I probably returned/ exchanged about 110$ worth of items from my baby shower for things that I actually had on my registry.

I hope that you found this list helpful in deciding what kinds of baby products you will need in your own “must have’s” list. Feel free to comment and tell me a few of your favorite must have’s or no go’s!

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from these links, I may receive a small compensation at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog! If you have questions or would like more information on affiliate links you can contact me here.

Post navigation

2 Comments on “5 Baby Products You Really Don’t Need”

Totally agree with everything on this list!! Would tell any mom to not get the diaper genie, heard the UBI is really good. The changing table is so overrated, you’ll end up using the floor more times than you realize. The diaper bag, it’s sitting empty in my son’s room because I just put everything now in my tote 😉

Absolutely! The floor is my go-to for baby changing. When you have little squirmers, the thought of them flailing off the changing table while you’re changing their bum half asleep in the middle of the night just gets petrifying. Floor = safe+convenient! Win!